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Wildlife Photographer of the Year, an annual celebration of the finest shots in nature and wildlife photography, has just announced its winners for 2024. This year marks the 60th edition of the Natural History Museum’s prestigious award, and the triumphant shots were selected from over 59,000 entries
The title of ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ went to Canadian marine conservation photojournalist Shane Gross, whose underwater snap named ‘Shot of Life’ features western toad tadpoles. To get the shot, Gross snorkelled for hours in a lake on Vancouver Island, making sure not to disturb fine layers of silt and algae at the bottom.
Kathy Moran, chair of this year’s jury, said of Gross’ shot: ‘The jury was captivated by the mix of light, energy and connectivity between the environment and the tadpoles. We were equally excited by the addition of a new species to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year archive.
‘Over the last few years, the competition has highlighted environments and species that are often overlooked yet provoke the same wonder and delight when shared as the more typically photographed wildlife and wild places.’
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum – and, as always, the winning shots will go on display at the museum. The 60th anniversary exhibition will feature past ‘grand prize’ winners, too, and it opens this Friday October 11. You can buy tickets here.
Here are some more of the winning shots from this year’s WPOTY awards.
Shane Gross, ‘Shot of Life’
Alberto Román Gómez, ‘Free As a Bird’
Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, ‘Life Under Dead Wood’
Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod, ‘A Tranquil Moment’
Igor Metelskiy, ‘Frontier of the Lynx’
Jack Zhi, ‘Practice Makes Perfect’
Jiri Hrebicek, ‘The Artful Crow’
John Marriott, ‘On Watch’
Karine Aigner, ‘Wetland Wrestle’
Matthew Smith, ‘Under the Waterline’
The WPOTY’s ‘highly commended’ list was announced back in August – see some more of those shots here.
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